Major Solar Activity Continues – Space Weather Bulletin #01-4

Official Space Weather Advisory issued by NOAA Space Environment Center
Boulder, Colorado, USA

SPACE WEATHER BULLETIN #01- 4

2001 April 10 at 10:26 a.m. MDT (2001 April 10 1626 UT)

**** MAJOR SOLAR ACTIVITY CONTINUES ****

Another week of major solar activity is being produced from a large,
complex sunspot group currently making its way across the face of the
sun. The region is now near the center of the sun and has produced two
Earth-directed coronal mass ejections within the past 24 hours. This
region also produced an R3 (strong) radio blackout at 11:26 p.m. MDT on
April 9 (2001 April 10 05:26 UTC) and was followed by a category S1
(minor) solar radiation storm. Category R3 radio blackouts adversely
affect high-frequency radio communications and low-frequency navigation
signals on the sunlit side of Earth. A category S1 (minor) solar
radiation storm will adversely affect high-frequency radio
communications in the polar regions.

The region is expected to be visible from Earth for the next six days
and is likely to produce additional major events. Forecasters also
expect geomagnetic storms reaching category G2 (moderate) and possibly
G3 (strong) geomagnetic storms to begin early on April 11 and continue
through April 12 as a result of the recent activity. Power systems,
spacecraft operations, and high-frequency radio communications are
adversely affected by geomagnetic storms. In addition, aurora may be
visible as low as the middle latitudes.

Data used to provide space weather services are contributed by NOAA,
USAF, NASA, NSF, USGS, the International Space Environment Services
and other observatories, universities, and institutions. More
information is available at SEC’s Web site http://sec.noaa.gov or
(303) 497-5127. The NOAA Public Affairs contact is Barbara McGehan
at bmcgehan@boulder.noaa.gov or (303) 497-6288.